still broke; sometimes knitting

twenty eleven

I feel behind on life right now. Certainly on blogging and commenting and responding … after I finished up all the writing for the exam (done! passed! oral on Monday!), my brain just gave up the ghost. If it didn’t involve trashy televsion or a detective story, I really wasn’t interested. Books? Pshah. Thinking? No, thank you. Fair isle? Nope.

So in lieu of any real content, I give you some knits in the wild. Inspired by the Rooster’s woolly fashion show, I decided to get on the photography.

(New bookshelf in the living room: hello, prized collection of used detective fiction! The bedroom got reorganized and this oldy but goody from an unknown housemate past had to find a new home.)

Twenty eleven! I love, love, LOVE this cardigan. It’s super sheepy and warm, but still not too warm to be worn indoors without suffocating. The collar is super fun, the buttons are bright just like I wanted, and the fit is very, um, fitted. Perfect. The pattern itself was easy to follow, easy to knit … highly recommended. Especially with some waist shaping if that’s your thing. (I’m attempting to embrace my tendency toward the pear shaped.)

It took about 8.5 skeins of Ísex Létt-Lopi (color 0005) on size US7/4.5mm needles, size xs/s for about an inch of negative ease. I’ve already worn this a lot … and will be wearing it for as long as the cold weather lasts.

Also: finally, Idlewood gets a day out!

I wasn’t sure how to wear this sweater, to be honest. It seems to hit me at a slightly awkward place: I’d always question my choice of pants/ skirt/ whatever and end up changing before leaving the house. Also, that cowl is very, very warm. The recent cold snap and some sweater tights helped, as did my determination to wear this at least once before summer arrived. In practice, it’s a very cozy layer. Though I’m still not sure about the length.

(Here it is with jeans …

… which did not make it out of the living room. Odd. I like the sweater in theory, yet somehow when I put it on it feels awkward.)

In other knitting news, I’ve got nothing. A new cardigan project went spectacularly awry … more on that later …

I love how very sheepy this yarn is: I swear, it sheds more than Alice … I keep finding bits all over the house or in my books, on my clothes … everywhere.

As you can see, I added some rather dramatic waist shaping. I wanted it to cinch at the waist, and cinch it does. Let’s just hope it’s not too much, since I did also want it to close without extensive corsetry or girdles … I did try it on about a million times while knitting, just to make sure, but still … one never knows. And I eat a lot of pizza.

It’s that “awaiting buttons” part that are going to be a challenge. I was set on bright blue or turquoise buttons and, indeed, that was what I found.

14 of them; 14 buttons that were suprisingly expensive when bought in quantities exceeding two or three. But I was impatient to find buttons and didn’t want to wait … so, very precious buttons it is. I plan on spending the afternoon stitching … and stitching …

Not that the cardigan is going anywhere.

Alice has got this.

And I’m already daydreaming about new projects …

Happy Sunday! I’m dreading the return to the real world tomorrow, but at least I got some sleep. And have a pretty new cardigan to wear.

A lot. That’s how much. It’s just so darn elegant: knit the arm opening, join the shoulders, pick up stitches and start shaping. Before you know it, boom!, sleeve cap without any awkward easing-in seaming, impossibly long yoke rounds, or sleeves to finish and join. It just makes sense, you know?

And now I plan on using it as much as possible.

For the twenty eleven, I thought about knitting extra-long extra-cozy sleeves … then I remembered that I live in Nashville and, realistically, wool cardigan weather isn’t going to be around much longer. 3/4 sleeves just work so much better here.

And speaking of things working out, as of yesterday afternoon my written exams are over! It is a glorious feeling, no less glorious than it was 5 years ago … and the prospect of a whole weekend off: oh my, it’s heaven.

My goals: sleep and anything I want to do, including finish this cardigan.

It’s slow going, but I’ve made it to the collar! There were some minor knitting disasters along the way, but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. Or, at least, I think they’re fixed. I’ll have a better idea of how it all worked out once I get the sleeves in? Maybe?

Here’s to hoping.

Also, my exams start tomorrow. I have no idea why I’m so freaked out about them. I’ve studied, I know this stuff pretty well, I’ve already taken (and passed!) similar exams. I have not gotten significantly less competent in the last 5 years.

Twenty eleven is growing steadily, though it seems like slow going. I’m not entirely sure why, maybe knitting all that black wool? going up a size to compensate for a smaller gauge? In any case, it’s one of those projects where I know I must be making progress — it’s getting bigger — and yet … there still seems to be a long way to go.

Pretty much like the studying.

Yesterday, I got through both the 19th century *and* the waist shaping, so I shouldn’t complain. Goodbye naturalism, hello fitted cardigan!

I won’t lie, I spent a lot of time standing at the mirror wondering, is that really the narrowest point of my waist? how exactly does one locate the top of the hip? how long should it be?

I’m furiously trying to make my way through mountains of books, letters, short stories, poems, notes, summaries, essays, criticism in a (seemingly futile) attempt to get ready for my exams. In two weeks.

So I’ve put selbu two on hold for the moment in favor of something less demanding: twenty eleven, version two; or, starting over with a tighter gauge.

So far, it seems to be working. Switching to US7/4.5mm needles was a wise choice. Maybe I’m finally learning that if something seems wrong, it probably is?

As for mods, I decided to stick with straight ahead stockinette instead of moss stitch. Not only do I find moss stitch impossibly tedious, no matter how good it looks, but it would certainly interfere with my ability to knit while reviewing.

Stockinette it is. And I’m quite excited about the possibility of a not-so-basic black cardigan to add to my handknit collection.

Today, we woke up to snow. That’s how Nashville spells adventure — and everything closed — so plans to walk to the library have been replaced by plans to stay in my pajamas. Alice is not complaining. That look of extreme concentration is brought to you by all of the hungry birds at the feeder.

I don’t like messes. In fact, I try to avoid them whenever possible … of course, that doesn’t mean that I don’t make them. I make lots of messes; I just try to tidy them away as quickly as possible.

This often happens with my knitting. A project doesn’t work out, something goes spectacularly awry … and I attempt to pretend it never happened. At least, not on the blog. I don’t share the messes.

But the other day, something happened: I let all the mess out, without really meaning to — all the ragged edges, all the whining and complaining and self-pity, all the sloppy pieces that didn’t fit — and it felt really good. It’s out now. And I thought, why not do the same with my knitting. After all, there is plenty of mess to be had there.

Exhibit one:

Oh, selbu two. It was just not working out: too uneven, too loose, too not right. It’s a gift after all, and I don’t want to saddle someone with a subpar selbu. So back to the drawing board, time to be an adult and admit that I need to knit a guage swatch and possibly buy the appropriately sized 16″ circular.

The yarn is so pretty and I do not want to cringe every time my friend decides to wear the hat …

Exhibit two:

Twenty ten. This started life as the Golden Wheat cardigan, which was knitting up just dandy … until I decided that I didn’t necessarily want another swinging cardigan; instead, I wanted something that could cinch a bit in the middle. Because if it doesn’t cinch a bit, well, I then towards the rectangular.

So I thought: twenty ten! Perfect. I’ll knit it up with less ease — as seen on Ravelry –, add three-quarter length sleeves, and voilà! cinchy cardigan. I’m still cautiously optimistic, with reservations about my choice of yarn: ístex létt-lopi. It’s wonderfully sheepy and has a lovely sheen to it, but I’m concerned that the gauge just might be a bit too loose. It’s a quandry: continue and see what happens? or start over and hope for the best on smaller needles?